Welcome to WDYTT, the only hockey column on the internet with a negative budget.

Speaking of negativity, it’s something that we in the Canucks-related media get accused of pretty often. But for many of us, it can actually be quite difficult to think pessimistically about a team we all at least started as fans of.

That feeling is cropping up today, so we want to introduce this topic with a lot of caveats.

We are in the midst of our summer countdown of the Top 50 Canucks of All Time, and there’s been plenty of debate about that. Last week, we offered up the chance for you to name your own Top Five, and you’ll see your responses on that below.

In keeping with giving you all a space to air your thoughts on our Top 50 list, it’s now time to move on to the Most Overrated and Underrated categories.

Now, our instinct is typically to lead with the more positive of the two options. But this time around, we’re leading with the negative, with the idea that next week’s question will make for a nice mood-lift thereafter.

We’re not trying to be mean here; we’re just trying to capture the full scope of opinions.

Is that enough caveating for now? Probably. In any case, it’s a relatively simple question.

This week, we’re asking:

Let it be known in the comment section.

You answered below!

1. Quinn Hughes

2. Pavel Bure

3. Henrik Sedin

4. Daniel Sedin

5. Todd Bertuzzi

Honourable mention: Bobby Lou.

1 Linden

2 Naslund

3 Gradin

4 Bure

5 Bertuzzi

In no particular order mine are:

Garth Butcher – He was one tough dude who was a real deterrent on those bad ’80s teams. No one wanted to be in the crease with him. I used to model my own style after him as a younger player… maybe I should have aimed higher.

Trevor Linden – Drafted early in the Pat Quinn era, he was the new hope who led the team to the finals and finally after two decades gave this team some legitimacy. I am about the same age and same generation as him so I found him very relatable and a great guy who I once met.

Kirk McLean – See above: He was a long-time Canuck and one of the most active alumni. He stole game one of the 1994 SCF and battled hard for this team.

Tiger Williams – I first started following this team during the 1982 Cup run and, for me as a youngster, Tiger was the guy. Seen him play many times in NHL old timers charity games and he is a guy who loves to give back.

Gino Odjick – Scary tough. that’s what other players used to call him. I was at the game where Gino scored on a penalty shot and that was one of the most awesome things to ever see as a Canuck fan. He would battle to the death for his teammates.

KMA:
Harold Snepsts; Stan Smyl; Pat Quinn; Bobby Lalonde; and Quinn Hughes.

Bure

Hughes

Pettersson

Mogilny

Sedins (I know they count as two but I don’t care)

This is a tough list for me. There are several former Canucks that left a big impression on me. Some weren’t necessarily the best players, but their compete level was off the charts.

1) Pavel Bure: he was the Canucks first true superstar. Made you get off your seat because you thought he was going to make something happen every time he went speeding down the ice.

2) Markus Naslund: I really admired his leadership style and his conduct on and off the ice. He was perfect leader to take the Canucks out of the dark ages of the Messier era and into the West Coast Express years and provided cover for the Sedins until they were ready to emerge as stars.

3) Ryan Kesler:  Even though his exit from Vancouver was tumultuous, the years before that he was the toughest competitor. I’ll never forget the story how when he had a broken finger he asked the doctor to cut it off so he can get back to playing and his dad had to step in and shut that down. I think he would have made a good captain and had he been healthy, I don’t think Boston would have won the Cup.

4) Cliff Ronning: I once saw him get clobbered by a huge hit at center ice and he got right back up, stole the puck, made an amazing pass to spring Bure on a breakaway, and watched Bure score. Every game Ronning played, he never took the night off. He played like he could be sent to the minors the next day. Something the current roster could learn from.

5) Greg “Gus” Adams: his compete level was off the charts. He wasn’t the most durable player and he wasn’t a physical player but he was willing to pay the price to get in the dirty areas and make a play or score a key goal.

1 Sedin/Sedin (we should be able to have them count as one vote, for obvious reasons): best players on the best teams I’ve seen over a decade.

2 Gradin: classy and talented on some woeful teams.

3 Linden: absolute warrior.

4 Luongo: having an actual goalie after years of the Cloutier/Snow/Irbe experience.

5 Hughes: best D we’ve ever had.

As others have done, I’m counting the twins as one unit.

Hughes

Twins

Bure

Smyl

Boudrias

One from each decade of the franchise.

JT Miller, Donald Brashear, Markus Naslund, Jyrki Lumme, and Quinn Hughes. A fairly eclectic mix.

Henrik Sedin

Roberto Luongo

Markus Naslund

Quinn Hughes

Pavel Bure

Honorable Mention: Bertuzzi, Odjick, Ohlund, D.Sedin, McLean, Mogilny, Linden.

Hank, Danny, Pavel, Quinn, Lu.

These are my favorite players that no longer play, or currently work with the team..

Kirk Mclean

Markus Naslund

Alex Mogilny

Pavel Bure

Donald Brashear

1, Gradin

2. Bure

3. Ohlund

4. Sedins

5. Hughes

So many more, too…

First time I watched Pavel Bure on the TV, I remember him getting a feed and skating up the ice and I actually stood up from the couch to watch him score.. Something I only ever did at a live game…Pure excitement.

Elias Pettersson, without a doubt was my favorite player to watch just a few years ago. Excited every time he was on the ice with those one timers and accurate shots…Really hope he returns with a vengeance.

Roberto Luongo put on a clinic in the 2007 quarterfinals versus Dallas. He gave us respectability in the league. So sad we had to trade him.

I was super stoked when we got Alex Mogilny to play with Bure. Although they did not play together very long. Mogilny was great to watch and had a damn good career with the Canucks.

Sedins were pure magic in the last half of their careers. How many “the shift” moments came out where they controlled the puck in the offensive zone?

Honorable mentions: Harold Snepsts, Trevor Linden, and glassman himself, Sami Salo.

I always loved the Sedin twins, and don’t think many words from me are needed to justify including them in the top five. I also loved Pavel and consider him the best pure talent to ever play for the Canucks; however, the turmoil of his later years with the franchise and the circumstances of his departure taint the earlier memories of him to the point that he falls out of the top five. So, here are my other three:

Kirk McLean. While I was born in the early ‘80s, my first real exposure to the Canucks was as a kid in the early ‘90s: my parents had no interest in it, so I didn’t watch much until I could do so with my own friends. The high point of that era was obviously the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals run (ironically, punctuated by the low point taking place in downtown Vancouver immediately after their conclusion). And while Trevor Linden, who is certainly an honorable mention on my list, gets plenty of deserved credit for his heroics during that run, the player that really symbolizes it for me is the goalie. Kirk McLean was obviously well-liked by all at that point, as the undisputed starting goalie and workhorse for the team. But the degree to which he stepped up in that run, posting a SV% of .928 (obscenely high for that time and 37 points higher than his regular season mark), making uncountable game and series-saving stops and producing indelible memories of greatness, put him into some of my fondest early Canuck memories and into my top five.

Markus Naslund. My growing emotional investment in the team showed an unfortunate inverse correlation with its success throughout the late ‘90s. By the end of that decade, they were possibly the sorriest group in the league, give or take a few expansion teams and the Milbury-era Islanders. If you could manage to sit through any games of the putrid ‘97-98 season – a last place finish despite respectable production from Bure and the intrepid “leadership” of the potato chip spokesman – you would be forgiven for not seeing the future face of rebirth in that lineup: a sometimes scratched, soft-spoken 14-goal-scorer dismissed as a draft bust by the Penguins and seemingly destined for the same fate with the Canucks. However, Markus Naslund would go on to lead the team in goals the following year, and don the ‘C’ not long afterwards, an honour he would carry for seven seasons. That was not an easy era to have to face the cameras, and yet he did it with style and grace, and commanded the respect of the room and the city. Along the way, the team returned to the playoffs behind Naslund and the WCE’s dominance, earning Markus the Pearson trophy in 2003 to boot. His mentorship also clearly passed through to his fellow MODO alumni the Sedin brothers. In considering the great players the Canucks have had, Markus sometimes gets overlooked in retrospect (despite having his jersey in the rafters at GM Place), but not by me.

Alex Burrows. The search for a permanent third Sedin seemed pretty much endless at the time. After watching Jason King, Trent Klatt, Magnus Arvedson, Anson Carter, Taylor Pyatt and a handful of others get their shot there but not stick (though Carter could have), I doubt expectations could have ever been too high for an undrafted ECHL alum from the Montreal suburbs who popped 3 goals in his first full season with the team. And yet, it somehow clicked for the ultimate underdog. A player you loved on your own team (and would hate on another), Burrows was so easy to root for during the Vigneault years. He got himself up to 9th on the all time franchise goals list (since passed by Horvat and Boeser), and is 7th in all time games played. His OT goal in game 2 against Boston might also be the last time I remember being truly happy watching the Canucks. For all of that, Burrows sneaks into my top five.

No slight intended to Hughes, Demko, or any handful of others who could work themselves up into the list in the future.

TL/DR: Sedin, Sedin, McLean, Naslund, Burrows, in no order.

Juice, Trev, Krutov, Quinn (Pat), Gino.

Let’s not forget the legends who set the bar. Hank threading needles, Danny going bar down, Trevor bleeding blue, Näslund buzzing, and Bure just straight up flying. Hopefully besides Hughes, some of the current crop have a drop of that in their veins.

I am going to cheat and count the Sedins as one player. They were top players in the league for a time. Other such top players who make my list: Naslund, Bure, and Hughes. JT Miller is a personal favourite of mine, so I would include him too. Miller was a great player to watch, whether it be his scoring, his playmaking or his physical presence. Linden and Smyl were simply not top NHL players, in my opinion.

Quinn, Pavel, Henrik, Daniel, Markus. Honorable mention to Roberto. Not seeing a lot of love for the ‘dragon slaying’ Burr. He doesn’t supplant anyone in my top five, but he was an absolute beauty.

You recently had an article about the Mount Rushmore of the Canucks. I had Bure, Odjick, Linden, and I had to decide between Bieksa and Burrows. Aaaaand now I don’t.

That’s my top five. (Honorable mention to Ohlund and Hughes.)

Based strictly on character, mine, so they’re my personal favourite players:

Gradin, Tanti, Salo, Snepsts, Burrows.

Honourable mentions: Rota, Tanev, Tiger, PQ.

My favorite five players include a lot of underdogs:

Alexander Burrows – He made the Sedin Twins work as a line. The twins were not able to form any lasting chemistry with any player until Burrows came along. He was an undrafted player that worked his way onto one of the best first lines in hockey at the time.

Gino Odjick – Who doesn’t love Gino and the love he had for the game. No one was more excited to score a goal than he was and he was a feared enforcer that protected Pavel Bure.

Pavel Bure – I didn’t really watch hockey until the Canucks made their Stanley Cup run with Bure. When I started watching hockey he was the most exciting player in the league and his break aways and goal scoring were phenomenal.

Trevor Linden – A humble captain beloved by fans, who was screwed over by Mark Messier and Keenan. He brought the Canucks to within one win of a Stanley Cup.

Daniel/Henrik Sedin – They magic those two had to play as one player was amazing. The would turn defense inside out with short passes, and they literally changed the way the game was played with several innovations like the slap pass, or the intentional icing where they rush to get the puck first and score. They were wizards with the puck and deserved more respect from the league and refs. They too got Canucks to within one game of the Stanley Cup, and are much beloved in Vancouver.

Honorable Mention: Cliff Ronning. I loved the way he played the game. He was a small player that played big.

King Richard Brodeur – the ’82 Cup run was a team effort, but the King was the single biggest difference maker.

Trevor Linden – influenced the team on the ice, off the ice and, love or hate the results, helped get the game out of its most threatening shutdown.

Captain Kirk – Had a Cup run of his own with better regular season consistency than the King (albeit with better teams)

Alexander Burrows – made the Sedins better players and possibly Ryan Kesler, too.

Christian Erhoff – almost filled the role as the “last piece” for the 2011 run.

Honourable mention – Quinn Hughes is clearly the best skater to ever play for the team, but his story is still being written and it remains to be seen how he fits into the puzzle that is the Vancouver Canucks.